10.14.26 SPEND LESS On Medical Expenses and When Shopping Online

Secret Hospital Price Lists Exposed & Simple Cart Trick That Saves You Money Healthcare costs are skyrocketing, and with health insurance prices expected to jump even higher, taking control of your medical expenses is vital. Clark shares a radical workaround to save thousands on life-saving brand-name medications, plus a powerful free tool at hospitalpricingfiles.org that unveils secret hospital price lists so you can comparison shop non-emergency tests and procedures before you pay. Plus, as holiday shopping starts earlier than ever, impulse buying can easily destroy your budget. Clark warns against signing up for retailer promotional alerts that trigger emotional spending on wants instead of needs. He shares a favorite strategy to protect your wallet: the 24-hour cart rule. Plus, Christa shares your #AskClark questions and Clark gives his take. All this and more on the October 14, 2026, episode of The Clark Howard Show. Submit your questions: Ask Clark. Medical Expenses: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Online Shopping: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: The Free Tool That Exposes Hidden Hospital Costs Hospital Price Files Finder / CMS - Hospital Price Transparency Americans Losing Access to Cheap Gray-Market Prescriptions From Canada - WSJ⁠ 10 Ways To Save Money on Health Care - Clark Howard [WP] Here’s why emotions drive you to spend — and how to stop the habit The Secret Perk of Abandoning Your Online Shopping Cart Even Clark Howard Falls for This Sneaky Retail Trap – Are You Doing It? My 7 Rules for Using Credit Cards - Clark Howard How To Dispute a Charge on Your Credit Card - Clark Howard Why You Should Never Pay for Travel with a Debit Card Clark.com resources: Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com / Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:04Speaker 02

  It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. I want to start today with something I've talked about where I've said, you have to shop for your healthcare. And this year it's more important than ever. And now we got to talk about the loss of access to brand name drugs from Canada. I'm going to give you some specifics on how to compare and save. Also, in today's episode, I want to talk about a strategy my wife recently employed to save money while shopping online.

• 1:49Speaker 02

  And she wasn't even trying a strategy. I'll settle that story for you later. All right. So we got a lot going on in the medical field that is obviously not your friend. Number one, and I covered this recently, how much health insurance costs are going up in 27? And it's going to be really hard for individuals buying coverages, small business, even big companies are cutting back benefits for 27 and increasing the employee share at most big companies.

• 2:33Speaker 02

  Tough, tough on that side. So where can you make a difference in costs? One thing, if you have to take a ultra high cost prescription med, it's brand name only, no generic, a big relief valve for people has been buying those drugs mail order from Canada. A lot of brand name prescription drugs are a teensy tiny of the cost from Canada what they are here in the United States. And so a lot of Americans have been ordering from, takes a little work, but finding legit pharmacy to order from in Canada.

• 3:16Speaker 02

  And you're getting the identical brand name drug, but for a tiny amount of the cost. And this is important because a lot of these brand name drugs, life saving drugs that can cost them thousands of dollars a month without which they'll die. It's that simple. Well, now the US government has made the decision to choke that off and force people to go without or to pay the huge price that those drugs sell for in the United States. So I've taken a position on this that I know is crazy. But if the individual needs the drugs, is physically able to, or a family member, you

• 4:00Speaker 02

  actually fly four times a year to Canada, buy the drug and bring it back. There's no prohibition on that like there is on mail order. We're talking about drugs that, that the cost per month can be in the thousands, but having to fly four times a year up and back to pick up the meds would still generate a big, big savings. Most people aren't going to do that. They'll just go without the med. And again, that could be a life and death decision. So there is this way around it by going in person to get the drugs. Now, I want to talk about something else.

• 4:43Speaker 02

  I've railed on hospitals over and over and over again, how hospitals are responsible for the greatest share of the increase in healthcare costs in the United States and all the ways they've done that. But there's something I've not talked about, and that is comparison shopping. If there's a non emergency thing, you need to have a procedure, a surgery, whatever, shopping for it. And hospitals have to file with the feds what their price lists are, but they're very reluctant to share them, be the nicest way to say it, with consumers.

• 5:22Speaker 02

  And there's a nonprofit that has compiled a database where you as a consumer can see what the hospital price list, they try to keep secret from you, what they actually are. Some of the lists are unusable by a layperson from some of the hospitals that really tried to obfuscate the price information, make it completely unusable. Others have complied with the spirit and the letter of the law. And if you look, you can actually see, well, if I need this procedure, this is what it's going to cost.

• 6:03Speaker 02

  And where you go is hospitalpricingfiles.org. I'll repeat that. Hospitalpricingfiles.org. And when you go there, you, there'll be a map that you click on your state, and then you can look at the pricing for different things at various hospitals where you are. Now, there are hospitals that have defied the law and just aren't even filing their prices. But fortunately, that's pretty rare. And having this information is really important. And Krista, you have questions along this line for me?

• 6:43Speaker 03

  I did. I got one from Tom in Illinois, and he said, Clark talks about shopping for surgical procedures, but I'm not sure how to go about that. If I go to a doctor and they say I need surgery, how do I start the process of shopping around? Do I just start calling other doctors and asking what they would charge for that same procedure? Do I have to get a referral from the first doctor? Please describe the process to us.

• 7:07Speaker 02

  So Tom, the process is hard to understand because it's not like step one, step two, step three, step four. It's hard and it depends on what you need. So one of the key price differentiators is, let's say it's a surgery you need that you don't have to be hospitalized for. The biggest savings are when you check prices at non hospital related independent surgery centers. The shocking thing is that many times doing it away from a facility owned by a hospital, even being a cash payer, it'll be cheaper than with insurance.

• 7:50Speaker 02

  What you would just pay is your deductible at a hospital. And it depends on the procedure you need, whether you're going to find pricing pretty easy to get quoted at independent surgery centers or not. Now, a lot of doctors' practices now, particularly surgeons that do a surgery that's really profitable for hospitals, their practices have been bought by the hospital system so they can run up the bills on you, run up the prices. But there are still a lot of doctors that are independent, who may even own their own surgery center and compete against the hospitals with cheaper prices.

• 8:34Speaker 02

  So this is not a clear area, not a clear procedure. You generally can't just go online and see what different standalone surgery centers charge. But as I've talked about through the years, this is a more common thing in medicine. Like it used to be very rare with the MRIs. That you could go to independent facilities. Now they're very common. They're in shopping centers and they tend to charge a 10th of what you would pay at a hospital. And almost always cheaper as a cash pay than even your deductible that you're charged at a hospital. So not something I can say, here's your roadmap.

• 9:19Speaker 02

  I can just give you a direction to shop around. I wish it was easier.

• 9:24Speaker 03

  Chuck in Massachusetts says, I have to share a big consumer win, months in the making. My wife and I just welcomed our third child.

• 9:33Speaker 02

  Congratulations.

• 9:34Speaker 03

  Because she was older for this pregnancy, her OB-GYN referred her to a clinic for genetic testing. Her doctor expected the testing to be covered by insurance. Well, insurance covered one, but denied the other as not medically necessary. The clinic billed our insurance company more than $10,000 for the denied test.

• 9:55Speaker 02

  $10,000? Is that what genetic testing costs?

• 9:58Speaker 03

  For one of the tests.

• 9:59Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 10:00Speaker 03

  Yet sent us a bill for only $250, the quote discounted prompt pay rate, threatening that the balance would double if we didn't pay within 30 days. What a racket. I called our insurance company to investigate the denial. A representative contacted the clinic and learned they did not have the documentation necessary to hold my wife financially responsible for the charge and should not be pursuing her for payment. We followed up with them by email and certified mail. I kept pressing one simple yes or no question. Do you have signed documentation requiring my wife to pay for this procedure if it is not covered by insurance? And yes, please provide it. If no, please confirm that in writing.

• 10:44Speaker 03

  They threatened to send the account to collections and repeatedly offered to accept the prompt pay rate instead. We kept pressing for documentation and eventually, rather than answer the yes or no question, the clinic simply quote waived the entire debt. So in the end, $0 paid, debt eliminated, and no signed financial responsibility agreement ever produced. Thank you for helping me become an even more tenacious consumer advocate for myself.

• 11:10Speaker 02

  Okay. So I want you to think about the whole story. You ended up at a great conclusion. $10,000 test, paid nothing for it. You thought insurance was going to pay. This whole thing where we don't know, this would be like, I use the restaurant example because everybody can get it. By going into a restaurant and you think your meal is going to be blah, blah, blah dollars. And you eat the meal and then they say, no, it's 80 times what you thought it was. That's how medicine operates. I mean, it, you don't know upfront what anything is going to cost.

• 11:50Speaker 02

  Why is it you can call a dentist, and they do a lot of complicated procedures, and you can ask, what does it cost for whatever? They can put an entire price list, can be pages long, right on their website. Medicine is wired to not do that, to make it where it's too hard for you to comparison shop, for you to know what's covered, what's not covered. And so you stuck to your guns. Most people just would have paid. But how weird is it that something that retails at $10,000, they were willing to accept $250?

• 12:28Speaker 03

  That's crazy.

• 12:29Speaker 02

  And that kind of thing happens all the time in medicine. The fake retail versus the real price that they expect to receive.

• 12:39Speaker 03

  Sarah in Virginia says, hi Clark, how long should I keep my explanation of benefits for? I feel like my filing cabinet is full of them, but I don't know if I should keep them or not.

• 12:50Speaker 02

  Okay. So much debate about this. Have you ever looked at this online?

• 12:56Speaker 03

  No.

• 12:57Speaker 02

  Okay. So people that are professionals in the business will state anywhere from one year to seven years to forever. So you're talking about, if you've got any kind of chronic condition, you could build a stack of papers to the height of Mount Everest, probably in a few, you know, few years.

• 13:19Speaker 03

  You could also electronically save them.

• 13:21Speaker 02

  Okay. So you're getting to where I was going to go with this.

• 13:24Speaker 03

  Jump the gun.

• 13:25Speaker 02

  No, you, hey, you're smarter than I am. Your mind's quicker than mine.

• 13:30Speaker 03

  We all know that is not true.

• 13:32Speaker 02

  That is true. Okay. So anyway, a lot of us now have electronic access to the EOBs. So I have refused to just get electronic, but I have both paper and electronic. Why do I want paper? It's really hard to understand an EOB when you're looking at a phone or a computer screen. So I like to look through the paper. But if I know I have electronic backup access and I've already looked through the paper one, I don't see the need to keep it for any time longer than, let's say, a year. The debate online is if you've got a chronic condition, you want to keep the EOBs for years and years and years and years to come.

• 14:17Speaker 02

  And your idea of just taking, making a digital scan of it, I think that's fine if you don't want to fill file cabinets. If you move regularly, you don't want to have to deal with moving that blizzard of paper. But it is one that there is no one right answer to. But if you have access to it at least electronically later, I think that's enough.

• 14:43Speaker 03

  So, and you want to have these because, one, you could get some kind of crazy billing thing, and two, for HSAs, right? In case you want to use them later.

• 14:51Speaker 02

  That's a good point, but also the bills can come years late.

• 14:55Speaker 03

  Right.

• 14:56Speaker 02

  And, okay, so this is one of the craziest things about the law. Medical offices are notorious for having the worst billing operations ever. And they may bill you way down the road for something. You may have changed insurance by then, who knows what? And just because they're late billing you doesn't mean there's not a legal obligation to pay. They may not be able to sue against it, but they could mess up your credit, depending on the size of the bill. So keeping documentation is important, but at the same time, can you find anything if you have stacks and stacks and stacks of these things?

• 15:36Speaker 03

  That's why I like, like Google Drive. I have it organized. I have mine organized really well.

• 15:40Speaker 02

  You do?

• 15:41Speaker 03

  I upload them in there. I don't scan them. I just save the PDFs and then I upload them.

• 15:45Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 15:46Speaker 03

  But.

• 15:47Speaker 02

  Very impressive. All right. Coming up ahead, we're going to talk about, we're moving into the Christmas selling season, which is the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, NBA championship, all rolled into one in the retail world. And I want to talk about with online shopping, a technique that may or may not save you some money. And I'll share a story where it saved my wife money just recently.

• 16:20Speaker 00

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• 18:51Speaker 02

  If you think it's easy to spend money when you're out and about, think how easy it is now to spend money you really later might regret because you've signed up for alerts from so many different online retailers, physical retailers, and they're screaming at you, sale, sale, sale. For so many of us, there's just like a instant, almost like an adrenaline rush when we see, oh man, look at that deal. And we click and we buy the thing, boom.

• 19:31Speaker 02

  And this time of year, I mean, think about this year, sales starting heavily in October. I mean, Amazon recently had another of their Prime Days dealy things. So what used to be all concentrated around Black Friday now is spreading further and further and further out. So we are already in mid-October in the heart of the Christmas shopping season. Weird to say, right? So this is especially important to talk about now.

• 20:08Speaker 02

  If you can, don't sign up for alerts from different stores. Because I want you to look around, if you're somebody who really, I'm talking to you. You do this conditioned response. You get that text or email about the sale, sale, sale. And you automatically, the if then, you're then on their website or on their app and you're buying the stuff. Truth. So much stuff that we buy, we don't actually need. They're not, they're not needs, they're wants.

• 20:48Speaker 02

  And at a time that money is so precious for so many of us because of the inflationary cycle we've been in. Getting rid of that impulse buy is so important. I've shared this in the past, but when I used to do on TV, I would do financial counseling with couples. And, and I'd try to teach how to be better with money and spending through the example of doing money counseling, therapy, whatever you want to call it, with couples that had spent themselves into financial trouble.

• 21:30Speaker 02

  What I talked about back then, this goes back before online shopping was as important as it is now. I would ban the couple from stores. They go to the supermarket, but they could only buy stuff every six weeks. Roughly eight times a year, they could go out and shop. And it was amazing how it worked because people would reduce if they adopted the habit going cold turkey and, and limiting ever going to stores. It totally changed how much money they spent. And people would get out of debt. Now it's so much harder because I can, I can say, don't go to stores.

• 22:14Speaker 02

  But if people have their phone and their laptop, they can still spend like crazy. So one thing I've recommended is that if you don't want to delete being on all these lists, at least load things in your cart and leave them for 24 hours. And why do I say that? Because most often when people go back and look, if they even remember to go back and look, they say, well, no, I don't really need that. So yeah, I'm a killjoy. I'm killing that adrenaline rush, but I'm trying to protect your wallet. Right? And then it can work in strange and mysterious ways.

• 22:57Speaker 02

  Last month, over the Labor Day holiday, my wife had been interested in a particular sectional, going back to last year. And she was never getting around to buying it. She just didn't feel comfortable spending the money. And then she gets the Labor Day sale, which is, you know, a big sale time for furniture. And sure enough, that sectional was on sale. So she goes and she loads in the six, you know, you pick the pieces you want. She picks this six pieces, load them in the cart. And even on sale, she sees, oh, man, I'm not ready to click to purchase.

• 23:42Speaker 02

  And she abandons the cart and forgets about it. There was no strategy about it at all. And then she gets an email a day later that says, we saw that you loaded this in your cart. We'd like to offer you an additional 15% discount on the purchase. If you will go ahead and do it and we'll waive the delivery charge. And she says, look at this. And she shows it to me and it pushed her over the edge and she bought it. And she's thrilled, but the thing about it, she wasn't doing it as a manipulative tool, but it can work that way.

• 24:25Speaker 02

  And it did get her to buy it. Now she's thrilled she has it. But know that I want you to do the thing of loading in the cart, not because they're going to send you a better offer, but because the best deal of all is if you decide, you know, that was actually not something I needed. And you don't spend the money. Do you ever get, when you load something in a cart, do you ever have something happen to you like happen with Lane?

• 24:54Speaker 03

  Um, I don't remember that happening to me in the past, but I mean, I'll get like, I'll load something in the cart and then I'll get reminders, like the company will email me like, hey, you've got this in your cart. That kind of thing, but not like a better deal that I've ever gotten.

• 25:08Speaker 02

  So she was lucky.

• 25:10Speaker 03

  Well, I don't know, maybe it happens to a lot of people. I'm just one person.

• 25:14Speaker 02

  You're just one person. You're an important person.

• 25:17Speaker 03

  I don't know, everybody's important. All right, let's go to questions. Sam in Utah is an important listener and Clarky. And Sam says, Clark, my credit score saved me from a sunburn. I was at the Utah State Fair and the sun was beating down. I'm fair skinned with thinning hair. I did the unthinkable. I needed a hat and I needed it quick. I darted to the vendor section to buy a hat and came across a Cabela's table full of hats. I asked the person if I could buy one and they said, no. But if I applied for their credit card, I could have two hats for free. I was desperate. No other hats for purchase were in sight. I used my credit score to get the much needed skin protection. My question is, how much damage did I do?

• 26:02Speaker 03

  I was approved for the credit card, but I have no intention of ever using it. I'm debt free except for my mortgage and my credit scores are around 750 plus. Should I cancel the card or keep it open?

• 26:13Speaker 02

  Okay, so if I remember right, the Cabela's card is a, it's a Visa or MasterCard. It's not what's called a, a monoline, which is a card you can only use at Cabela's, which are junk cards or store cards. So I would keep it open. Um, if you shop occasionally at Cabela's, use the card. So you get some activity on it. It will actually, the initial application may pinch your score maybe 10 or 12 points. That passes pretty quickly. Having the available credit will likely over time ironically raise your credit score. Because you'll have more available credit versus what you charge in a month.

• 26:59Speaker 02

  So definitely keep it open. And that hat protected you from sunburn. So that was perfect for free.

• 27:08Speaker 03

  Jim in New York says, we have a granddaughter that we've never been allowed to know or give gifts to.

• 27:14Speaker 02

  Oh, no.

• 27:15Speaker 03

  I know, that's so sad. She just turned 16 and we would like to set up a future gift, such as a savings bond or a trust fund accessible after 23. But is this some, something like that possible without knowing her social security number? Do you have any thoughts or suggestions?

• 27:32Speaker 02

  So I've had this question before, not the exact circumstance, but the kind of thing where a loved one wanted to set up an account, Jim. And first of all, I'm really, really sorry that you've been cut out of your granddaughter's life. I just hate that for you. I don't know of an account you can open for your granddaughter's benefit without knowing her social security number. And the only workaround I know is to open a 529 that you own, that you name yourself as beneficiary, even though you don't need a college account.

• 28:10Speaker 02

  But if you ever are able to establish a relationship with your granddaughter, just turned 16, you're able then to designate her as the beneficiary of this. Once you get, if you do get the social security number. Now the downside of this, if you never do, whatever earnings you have from the 529, you would have to pay tax plus a 10% penalty. And then the money comes back to you. But having looked at this before in other situations, I'd love it if anybody in financial services or banking

• 28:54Speaker 02

  has a suggestion I've not thought of that would work. Because what's pretty much universally needed is the social security number. If you think there's a chance of reconciliation, then I think the 529 is best. And maybe a lawyer will suggest some kind of trust you could establish or even.

• 29:20Speaker 02

  I'm going to say something that's going to shock you. I guess it's possible there's some kind of life insurance product.

• 29:27Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 29:28Speaker 02

  Well, I'm digging here. I'm looking for something.

• 29:31Speaker 03

  I mean, you could name her, can't you name someone to benefit your account without their social?

• 29:35Speaker 02

  That's what I'm thinking. That's why I'm thinking.

• 29:38Speaker 03

  Like on a.

• 29:39Speaker 02

  Life insurance, but I, but with a bank account, I think you pretty much, if you're going to name somebody is the.

• 29:45Speaker 03

  You can will money, you can will money too, but that's not, I mean, hopefully that's a long way away.

• 29:50Speaker 02

  Long way away for Jim.

• 29:52Speaker 03

  So, yeah. Okay. Sorry about that.

• 29:54Speaker 02

  Jim, so what we'll do is if we do hear some really useful suggestions on this, we'll make sure we get those to you.

• 30:02Speaker 03

  For sure. Tom in Michigan says, Clark, I just wanted to thank you for your advice. Back in May, I asked if there was anything I could do to get money back from Spirit Airlines over lost credits when they went bankrupt. You advised that I make a claim with my credit card. It was not an easy or quick task, but with your advice, I was able to submit the claim, responded to several inquiries for more information. Then finally, we were issued a credit back to our credit card for the full credit from Spirit. Thanks again. And FYI, since the original charge was made back in November, the traditional dispute does not work. Bank of America requires a written request with full paperwork to back it up, then mail to their office that handles that. It took about a month for them

• 30:44Speaker 03

  to respond, but from then on, they kept me informed through the rest of the process.

• 30:48Speaker 02

  How about that? How about that? You see how persistence pays?

• 30:52Speaker 03

  Mm hmm.

• 30:53Speaker 02

  You know, when an airline goes bankrupt and shuts down like Spirit did, they'd already been in bankruptcy twice and all that. I think it was twice. Anyway, the airlines, whoever their merchant processor is for credit cards, does these massive holdbacks. So until after somebody's flight date, the airline doesn't get the money. They don't have that as working capital. And that's to deal with the possible eventuality, which is what happened with Spirit. So the money was there with the merchant bank. It was just a process of your bank providing documentation and getting the money back from the merchant

• 31:34Speaker 02

  bank. So that's why persistence pays so much. People who paid by debit card got what?

• 31:42Speaker 03

  Nothing.

• 31:43Speaker 02

  Nothing. Nothing. This is why when you buy travel, it is absolutely essential that you pay with the right plastic. Debit card is a piece of trash because you don't have the consumer protections you have with a credit card, which by law affords you these protections. But just because the law affords them to you, you have to assert your rights just like you did. And congratulations on getting that money back. And how about how much Spirit has mattered to airfares? They were, when they shut down, they were responsible

• 32:27Speaker 02

  for about just under two of every 100 passengers that flew. And since they shut down, even before the effects of the Iran war, airfares started going up in a nanosecond because they were a very important influencer. Even if you didn't fly them, they had so much to do with what airfares were available.

• 32:53Speaker 03

  And you know, you talked about travel recently, like a week or two ago, but I think because you've been talking about all these strategies you've been employing because you've been traveling so much, I think you should do a follow up on Friday's show after Clark stinks about that and all the things you're doing, because you have some good tricks up your sleeve.

• 33:10Speaker 02

  I do?

• 33:11Speaker 03

  You do. You do. And people love travel. Well, not everyone. We'll get Clark stinks about that sometimes, but I do have some travel questions you could answer.

• 33:19Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 33:20Speaker 03

  All right. Let's do it.

• 33:22Speaker 02

  Krista has programmed Friday for us. Thank you so much. And speaking of Friday, Clark stinks comes your way this Friday. I know it's been a long week waiting to the next opportunity to talk about where I didn't do my job well. And I want to tell you how much I appreciate that you take the time to let us know. And I hope that you enjoyed today's podcast and YouTube show, that you learned something here that you can put to work in your life. Let me tell you something. If we provide knowledge in a way that it's not actionable, that's the biggest failure I could have. Because what I want for you

• 34:06Speaker 02

  is I want you to be able to take what you hear or see here, or you read on our websites or our newsletters or whatever. I want you to be able to take that and put it to work to make positive changes in your life or get negative things out of your life. Like I was talking about with the impulse online shopping, that you're able to take more control so you can save more and spend less and avoid getting ripped off. And we'll see you on Friday.

• 34:40Speaker 05

  The secret society of semi homemade, listen up. Sam's Club has pre-made dishes for a Thanksgiving feast that's ready in two hours, all while tasting suspiciously homemade. Come join us. Sam's Club.

• 34:53Speaker 06

  Individual oven times may vary.

• 34:54Speaker 07

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time. Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.